Booking cruises on new ships

I would be interested in hearing about your experiences with booking a
cruise on a ship that is in the process of being built and and will
not be ready for a year or more. I know of people who had booked a
cruise, the ship was not ready on time, and they received a refund of
their money PLUS a free cruise when the ship was ready or on another
ship. I cannot find any place that actually gives the details of what
would happen if the ship is not ready. I imagine this may vary by
cruise lines. Also, is there some website that you can actually
follow the progress of a new ship as it is being built. I am
particularly interested the Celebrity ships. Thanks for your input.

In article om, annie
wrote:

I know of people who had booked a cruise, the ship was not ready on
time, and they received a refund of their money PLUS a free cruise
when the ship was ready or on another ship.

Anything is possible but that does not seem to happen anymore. The last
few years the new builds have been completed ahead of schedule and some
cruise lines then add pre-view sailing's or extra revenue sailing's in
advance of the originally scheduled inaugural sailing.

--
Charles

"Charles" wrote in message
d...
In article om, annie
wrote:

I know of people who had booked a cruise, the ship was not ready on
time, and they received a refund of their money PLUS a free cruise
when the ship was ready or on another ship.

Anything is possible but that does not seem to happen anymore. The last
few years the new builds have been completed ahead of schedule and some
cruise lines then add pre-view sailing's or extra revenue sailing's in
advance of the originally scheduled inaugural sailing.

--
Charles

For a few years, the Disney ships seemed to have messed up the timing of a
lot of ships. But lately that doesn't seem to be the case.

--Tom

In article , Tom K
wrote:

For a few years, the Disney ships seemed to have messed up the timing of a
lot of ships. But lately that doesn't seem to be the case.

Princess was the other line that messed up the timing. There were also
a lot of new technologies then. I think the last one they had delayed
was because the ship caught fire in the shipyard. The new Celebrity
ships that the other person asked about are being built at Meyer-Werft,
the German shipyard. I doubt there will be any delay.

http://www.meyerwerft.de/page.asp?la...ubs=0&did=1457

--
Charles

Cannot conceive the idea of booking over a year ahead of time,only god
knows what could happen in that space of time,and at our age we re
living on borrowed time anyhow


cruise lover

We booked the Azamara Quest B2B October, 2007. We had a total of 35 nights
booked on the Quest and their 'sister' cruise line with 2 cruises on RCCL
before and 1 on RCCL, after the Quest.
The ship was to have been refurbished and we were booked on the 1st and 2nd
cruise when the Quest came on line.
The Azamara Quest was NOT to be ready on time. They offered for us to take
what was to have been the 2nd and 3rd cruises for the same price.
Since we don't fly it entailed a 1600 mile to the port and since we could
not find replacement cruises that fit into our timetable we had to cancel
the other 4 cruises as well.
They were not even going to honor the onboard credit we had on the cruises
we had booked, much less any offer of a free cruise, in fact we still had to
pay for the insurance on the 5 cruises we had booked and had to cancel.
We are elite members of the Captain's Club and expected to be treated better
than that. We have spent a lot of money with that company and it is sad that
they wouldn't work to try to be fair to make us happy.
We now have B2B on Holland America, from a much closer port. We may never
book another cruise on Celebrity, RCCL or Azamara.
Splenda

"annie" wrote in message
ps.com...
I would be interested in hearing about your experiences with booking a
cruise on a ship that is in the process of being built and and will
not be ready for a year or more. I know of people who had booked a
cruise, the ship was not ready on time, and they received a refund of
their money PLUS a free cruise when the ship was ready or on another
ship. I cannot find any place that actually gives the details of what
would happen if the ship is not ready. I imagine this may vary by
cruise lines. Also, is there some website that you can actually
follow the progress of a new ship as it is being built. I am
particularly interested the Celebrity ships. Thanks for your input.

Splenda wrote:
We booked the Azamara Quest B2B October, 2007. We had a total of 35 nights
booked on the Quest and their 'sister' cruise line with 2 cruises on RCCL
before and 1 on RCCL, after the Quest.
The ship was to have been refurbished and we were booked on the 1st and 2nd
cruise when the Quest came on line.
The Azamara Quest was NOT to be ready on time. They offered for us to take
what was to have been the 2nd and 3rd cruises for the same price.
Since we don't fly it entailed a 1600 mile to the port and since we could
not find replacement cruises that fit into our timetable we had to cancel
the other 4 cruises as well.
They were not even going to honor the onboard credit we had on the cruises
we had booked, much less any offer of a free cruise, in fact we still had to
pay for the insurance on the 5 cruises we had booked and had to cancel.
We are elite members of the Captain's Club and expected to be treated better
than that. We have spent a lot of money with that company and it is sad that
they wouldn't work to try to be fair to make us happy.
We now have B2B on Holland America, from a much closer port. We may never
book another cruise on Celebrity, RCCL or Azamara.
Splenda
SNIP
I guess you were really let down by the cruise
line. The insurance would not have offered a
refund because you had the requested coverage
until you canceled. I am surprised that they did
not offer some kind of compensation for the missed
dates, but then that would have impacted their
bottom line. I guess you know what lines not to
book in the future.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (On the Left Coast)

Splenda wrote:

The ship was to have been refurbished and we were booked on the 1st and 2nd
cruise when the Quest came on line.
The Azamara Quest was NOT to be ready on time.

This is the risk when you book a "first" cruise on any ship. Were you
following what happened with the first cruises on the Azamara Journey?
Sorry this caused problems for you, but it sounds like they learned
their lesson and didn't want to have the Quest be a work in progress.

in fact we still had to
pay for the insurance on the 5 cruises we had booked and had to cancel.

Couldn't you use your insurance on your HAL cruises? Unless you bought
the cruise line insurance, you can transfer it if you cancel and rebook.

sue

On Oct 21, 3:17?pm, Charles wrote:
In article , Tom K

wrote:
For a few years, the Disney ships seemed to have messed up the timing of a
lot of ships. But lately that doesn't seem to be the case.

Princess was the other line that messed up the timing. There were also
a lot of new technologies then. I think the last one they had delayed
was because the ship caught fire in the shipyard. The new Celebrity
ships that the other person asked about are being built at Meyer-Werft,
the German shipyard. I doubt there will be any delay.

http://www.meyerwerft.de/page.asp?la...ubs=0&did=1457

--
Charles

As a matter of fact they just started the next one in the Solstice
CLass the Equinox.
SO yes they are not off much anymore, they schedule them further out
and alot time for Previews for agents and press etc.

On Oct 21, 6:38?pm, Sue and Kevin Mullen wrote:
Splenda wrote:
The ship was to have been refurbished and we were booked on the 1st and 2nd
cruise when the Quest came on line.
The Azamara Quest was NOT to be ready on time.

This is the risk when you book a "first" cruise on any ship. Were you
following what happened with the first cruises on the Azamara Journey?
Sorry this caused problems for you, but it sounds like they learned
their lesson and didn't want to have the Quest be a work in progress.

in fact we still had to
pay for the insurance on the 5 cruises we had booked and had to cancel.

Couldn't you use your insurance on your HAL cruises? Unless you bought
the cruise line insurance, you can transfer it if you cancel and rebook.

sue

yes the Insurance is transferable to another cruise.
and the difference with Azamara is they were NOT new BUILDS they were
getting refurbed and that is where the snags were.
Most NEW BUILDS are done way ahead of time and it allows them more
time to preview the ship and get the Snags out.